Unending controversies over Lagos councils' funds
By Clifford Ndujihe
ONE week after the Supreme Court's verdict on Lagos local councils, conflicting interpretations continue to trail the judgment.
Since the ruling, the Federal and Lagos State governments had claimed victory and called on each other to obey the order. While Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Alliance for Democracy (AD), cite the portion of the judgment condemning withholding of the allocation, the Federal Government insisted that Lagos was still operating 57 councils.
But Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), said both the Federal and Lagos State governments have portions of the judgment to obey and should not hesitate to do so in the interest of rule of law and social order.
Last Friday, the Supreme Court held that the President lacked the power to suspend or withhold the statutory allocation due and payable to the Lagos State government for the benefit of the local councils.
It ordered the Federal Government to 'immediately' release the outstanding allocations due and payable to Lagos pursuant to section 162(5) of the Constitution. The allocations were restricted to the 20 councils in Lagos as recognised by the 1999 Constitution.
The Supreme Court also held that until the National Assembly passes the enabling amendment, which reflects the newly created local councils, the exercise of creating 37 new ones was incomplete. It declined to nullify elections in respect of the new councils because all the parties likely to be affected by the nullification were not before it.
Shortly after the ruling, Tinubu and the AD called on President Olusegun Obasanjo to release the withheld council funds in obedience to the ruling.
But the Lagos State PDP faulted calls from Governor Tinubu AD on President Obasanjo to release allocations meant for the state's local councils following the Supreme Court judgment.
In a chat with The Guardian in Lagos, Dr. Obafemi Anibaba said the judgment has vindicated the President and urged Tinubu to revert to the old 20 councils and conduct elections into them in line with the ruling.
According to Anibaba, the claim by the Lagos State House of Assembly that the council law had been amended to recognise the old 20 councils and the 37 new ones does not hold water. "What is on ground is that 57 local councils are in existence, with signposts, collecting taxes and rates."
Admitting that it was constitutional for the state to initiate the process of council creation, he said the process remained incomplete until the National Assembly concludes it by including the new councils in the constitution.
Otherwise, he said there would be chaos in the country because every state would embark on indiscriminate creation of local councils.
"Tinubu should stop operating the 57 councils and conduct elections in the old 20 councils. You are asking the Federal Government to release the withheld allocation. To which councils-the 20 or 57? Tinubu should dissolve the 57 councils like he dissolved the 20 because the Supreme Court has declared them as illegal. There is no guarantee that if the money is released he will not use it for the 57 councils," Anibaba said.
"I am from Lagos. I want more local governments to be created but I want it to be created in a legal manner. My appeal is that the Lagos State government should not continue to allow the people to suffer by operating the 57 councils," he added.
However, Osipitan urged the Federal Government to release the allocation because it "has no direct fiscal relationship with the Local Government Councils."
He said: "The decision of the Supreme Court is that in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, the statutory allocation from the Federation Account be paid to Lagos State government for the benefit of 20 Local councils. The Lagos State government is expected to apply the allocation for the benefit of the 20 local government councils recognised by the constitution.
"Two distinct obligations are imposed by the Supreme Court on the parties in the above suit. First, it is the duty of Mr. President to pay the withheld allocations and continue paying the statutory allocations (due to the Local Government Councils) to the Lagos State Government. The second duty is that of the Lagos State Government to apply the allocated funds to the 20 Local Government Councils.
"Each party is expected to comply with the court's decision. The former must invariably proceed the latter obligation. It is not the law that a party who has been ordered by the court to do an act or desist from doing an act, will disobey the order of the court because of a real or imagined fear that the other party will not perform obligations imposed on him or her by the court.
"Our justice system has not attained and is unlikely to attain a level where a party will pick and choose which orders of the Court to obey or disobey. The rule of law is preferred to the rule of the thumb. Decisions of the court especially on constitutional matters should be obeyed by all concerned."
|
